PROVO — Just days before her death, the woman who witnesses say was fatally shot by her husband in an LDS Church parking lot filed court documents that said she knew that her husband had an extramarital affair and wanted to spend time away from him.
In an affidavit for a petition for temporary separation and orders signed Jan. 2, Kristy Ragsdale said she knew that her husband, David Ragsdale, had had at least one "adulterous affair."
Neighbors and a church leader also had told her that while she was on vacation, David's "mistress" had slept over at their Lehi home, parking her car out front with "neither of them making an effort to hide it," according to her affidavit filed in 4th District Court.
"I need to be separated from (David) while we attempt to reach a decision on this important matter," she wrote. But they never reached an amicable resolution.
David Ragsdale was arrested Jan. 6. Police say he shot Kristy Ragsdale five times in the back and once in the head as she got out of her minivan to go to church in Lehi. Police say he then shot her four times as she lay on the ground.
At the time of the shooting, Ragsdale was under the influence of antidepressant medications, a testosterone medication and sleep aids, a Lehi police officer testified at Ragsdale's bail hearing.
He is being held without bail for investigation of aggravated murder and will appear in 4th District Court Monday at 8:30 a.m. He has not been criminally charged. "This is the first (case) where I couldn't understand anything about it," said Rose Blakelock, David Ragsdale's civil attorney. "I still don't. Everything you have where you can predict (violence) wasn't there."
She described David Ragsdale as the "softest, quietest, nicest man" who spoke kindly about his wife. "The only things he said about her were loving, kind things," said said. "He didn't disparage her."
Blakelock had planned to meet with David Ragsdale on Jan. 7 — the day after the shooting — to discuss Kristy Ragsdale's filing.
The Ragsdales and their attorneys first went to court Dec. 20, where they agreed to a restraining order. Kristy Ragsdale hadn't filed for divorce; just for legal separation.
Another hearing had been scheduled for Jan. 15.
"My heart just breaks for them," Blakelock said. "You put it in the closed files and try not to think about it. But you just can't quit thinking about it because if you practice domestic law, it's everybody's nightmare."
Blakelock never had a chance to go over those documents with her client. In that motion, Kristy asked for alimony and outlined David Ragsdale's monthly income.
In October, David Ragsdale pulled in nearly $25,000 as an education counselor for Draper-based Investools, a firm that teaches beginners to invest in the stock market. Over the past three years, he averaged close to $18,000 a month, she wrote.
Kristy Ragsdale requested at least $10,435 each month to "pay my expenses and maintain the same standard of living we had during the marriage," according to court documents.
That would have included the mortgage, car payments, credit card bills — "whatever they supported their lifestyle with," said Lori Fowlke, who was representing Kristy Ragsdale.
Fowlke said Kristy Ragsdale called her soon after the documents were filed and said her husband was upset about the amount of money she had requested.
"(She knew) he would be upset about the money, but obviously she misjudged the level of rage," Fowlke said.
Neither attorney knew exactly how David Ragsdale knew about Kristy Ragsdale's request for alimony because Blakelock said she had not discussed the order with her client. It's possible the couple discussed it.
Kristy Ragsdale also asked the court to grant her temporary child support because with no post-high school education and limited work experience, she would have a hard time providing for their two boys, ages 4 and 1.
Kristy Ragsdale also asked to remain on David Ragsdale's health insurance. She also wanted the children to remain covered during the proceedings.
"Some people think they can just walk away from a marriage," Fowlke said. "Maybe while (David Ragsdale) was having his affair, he fantasized that he would just walk away. You don't walk away from a woman that you supported in that lifestyle and two children without a substantial financial commitment."
E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com